Finding Aid for the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Art Files, 1900-1991, undated HCFF.02.05

 Part of the Frick Family Papers

Summary Information

Repository
The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives10 East 71st Street
New York, NY, 10021
archives@frick.org
 © 2019 The Frick Collection. All rights reserved.
Creator
Frick, Helen Clay, 1888-1984.
Title
Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Art Files
ID
HCFF.02.05
Date
1900-1991, undated
Extent
11.4 Linear feet  (34 boxes, plus materials housed in Oversize A and Oversize E)
Abstract
Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), daughter of industrialist and art collector Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), was also a collector with a life-long interest in art and art history. These papers, 1900-1991 and undated, contain correspondence, invoices, inventories, catalogs, photographs, research materials, and printed matter documenting the acquisition and administration of artwork in Helen Clay Frick's personal collection and her research interests in various areas of art history.

Preferred Citation

Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Art Files. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.

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Biographical Note

Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), was the daughter of industrialist and art collector Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) and his wife, Adelaide Frick (1859-1931). She demonstrated a life-long interest in art and art history, and as an adult, her philanthropic endeavors encouraged the public's engagement with art objects and supported research in art history.

After the death of her father in 1919, Helen Clay Frick served, along with her mother and her brother Childs Frick (1883-1965), as a founding trustee of The Frick Collection, the museum comprised of Henry Clay Frick's New York residence and art collection. Among her many contributions to that institution, she was instrumental in guiding the museum's early acquisitions. In 1920, she established the Frick Art Reference Library in New York as a memorial to her father and as a public resource for those with an interest in art history. She served as Director of the Library from its inception until shortly before her death. In the 1920s, she also provided funds to establish the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh and supported the development of the University's Fine Arts Library. In later years, she loaned pieces from her personal art collection for study and for use in the Department's art exhibition program.

Like her father, Helen Clay Frick was a collector in her own right, though her taste ran more toward Italian artists such as Sassetta and Andrea di Bartolo. She also commissioned works from contemporary artists, particularly posthumous portraits of her father by Gerald Kelly, John C. Johansen, and the sculptor Malvina Hoffman. Her collection was augmented by the inheritance, upon the death of her mother in 1931, of her father's collections of paintings, sculpture, porcelains, furniture, and other objects at the family's Pittsburgh house (Clayton) and their country house in Prides Crossing, Mass. (Eagle Rock). A significant portion of the Eagle Rock collection was gifted to family members or very close friends over the years; the remainder became part of the Frick Art Museum, founded in Pittsburgh by Helen Clay Frick in 1970. The Clayton collection became accessible to the public after Helen Clay Frick's death in 1984.

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Scope and Content Note

Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Art Files, 1900-1991 and undated, contains correspondence, invoices, inventories, catalogs, photographs, research materials, and printed matter documenting the acquisition and administration of artwork in Helen Clay Frick's personal collection and her research interests in various areas of art history. It also gives information about works of art she declined to purchase either for herself or on behalf of The Frick Collection. This series is arranged in seven subseries, as detailed below.

Subseries I: Works Purchased, 1921-1984, documents the acquisition of artwork by Helen Clay Frick for her personal collection through either purchase or commission. Files may contain lists of works purchased; correspondence with dealers, artists, restorers, or Miss Frick's own staff; invoices; photographs; and printed material. Though these files reflect her interest in collecting works by early Italian and French artists, not all works purchased by Miss Frick are documented here. Additional documentation may be found among the Helen Clay Frick Papers: Series X: Voucher Files (noted in the container list below, when known). Works commissioned are frequently portraits of her late father, along with depictions of three interiors at his New York residence by the artist Walter Gay. Other works commissioned by Helen Clay Frick, notably a painting by Grandma Moses of Westmoreland Farm, her estate in Bedford, N.Y., is not documented here.

Subseries II: Works Not Purchased, 1922-1971 and undated, consists largely of chronological correspondence files containing letters offering works of art for purchase by either Helen Clay Frick or The Frick Collection, all of which were declined. The range of artists offered includes Sargent, Rembrandt, Whistler, Piero della Francesca, Vermeer, Houdon, Greuze, Guardi, and Giorgione, among many others. Dealers include Alice B. Creelman, R. Langton Douglas, Edward Hutton, and Basil Dighton. Three additional files document offers for a crucifix in the style of Duccio, a Donatello marble, and a double portrait by Edmund Tarbell of Helen Clay Frick with her father that was rejected by Henry Clay Frick when it was painted circa 1910.

Subseries III: Clayton and Eagle Rock Collections, 1911-1991 and undated, documents the administration and dissemination of works inherited by Helen Clay Frick from her father's collections at the family's Pittsburgh residence (Clayton) and Massachusetts estate (Eagle Rock). These files chiefly consist of inventories and catalogs of paintings, sculpture, enamels, and porcelains, but also include correspondence regarding insurance, relocation of objects, general matters, and the sale of one painting: Seiners by Rockwell Kent.

Subseries IV: Correspondence, 1920-1978 and undated, contains letters to and/or from art historians, dealers, galleries, conservators, and others regarding matters connected either with Helen Clay Frick's collection, or with her interest in art history. Notable correspondents include Alice Creelman, Durlacher Bros., Duveen Bros., M. Knoedler & Co., Harold Woodbury Parsons, F. Mason Perkins, and Wildenstein & Co. Most items are filed alphabetically by correspondent, however, a handful of files are topical in nature (e.g. insurance on paintings, furniture and rugs, and porcelains and bronzes). Additional correspondence on art-related matters can be found in the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series XVI: Alphabetical File.

Subseries V: Loans and Exhibitions, 1926-1983, contains files regarding the loan of various works for both short and long-term exhibition. Objects loaned were predominantly paintings. In the case of the loan to Harvard University's Fogg Museum of Art, however, Helen Clay Frick also sent furniture, rugs, bronzes, and porcelains. Coinciding with an extensive renovation at Eagle Rock, these objects were on loan for a period of several years. Other large long-term loans were made to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This subseries also contains files for several loan requests refused by Helen Clay Frick.

Subseries VI: Research, 1900-1975 and undated, contains notebooks, notes, card files, photographs, academic papers, and printed material connected with the collections of Helen Clay Frick and her father, as well as other areas of research. Topics of particular interest to Helen Clay Frick were Italian artists, the French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon, and objects represented in her father's collection, especially paintings, Chinese porcelains, and sculpture. This series also includes notes on historic homes and collections, particularly the notes on Virginia from 1922, which were probably used in conjunction with first photo campaign of the Frick Art Reference Library. Similar notebooks can also be found in the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series XI: Travel.

Subseries VII: Volumes, 1901-1936 and undated, contains bound research compiled by Helen Clay Frick, as well as nine volumes of the Italian periodical Rassegna d'Arte (1901-1912 and 1928). Volumes compiled by Helen Clay Frick contain handwritten notes and illustrations on the history of architecture and painting. The bulk of these are devoted to the various schools of Italian painting.

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Arrangement

Materials are arranged in seven subseries:

Subseries I: Works Purchased, 1921-1984

Subseries II: Works Not Purchased, 1922-1971 and undated

Subseries III: Clayton and Eagle Rock Collections, 1911-1991 and undated

Subseries IV: Correspondence, 1920-1978 and undated

Subseries V: Loans and Exhibitions, 1926-1983

Subseries VI: Research, 1900-1975 and undated

Subseries VII: Volumes, 1901-1936 and undated

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Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

These records are open for research by appointment under the conditions of The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives Access Policy. For all inquiries or to schedule an appointment, please contact the Archives Department at archives@frick.org.

Provenance

Gift of the Helen Clay Frick Foundation, 2015.

Processing Information

Arranged and described by Julie A. Ludwig, 2019.

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Related Materials

Related Materials

Although this series contains some of Helen Clay Frick's research on sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon, significantly more material can be found in the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series VI: Research Files on Jean Antoine Houdon and the Helen Clay Frick Research Files on Jean Antoine Houdon. For additional notebooks regarding historic homes and collections, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series XI: Travel. Correspondence and other materials relating to Helen Clay Frick's art collection and interest in art history may also be found in the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series XVI: Alphabetical File. Documentation pertaining to works of art originally purchased by Henry Clay Frick can be found in the Art Collecting Files of Henry Clay Frick.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

  • Carnegie Institute.
  • Durlacher Bros.
  • Frick Collection.
  • M. Knoedler & Co.
  • Wildenstein and Company (New York, N.Y.)

Personal Name(s)

  • Douglas, R. Langton (Robert Langton), 1864-1951.
  • Frick, Helen Clay, 1888-1984--Art Collections.
  • Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919--Art Collections.
  • Hutton, Edward, 1875-1969.
  • Johansen, John C. (John Christen), 1876-1964.
  • Kelly, Gerald, 1879-1972.
  • Lochoff, Nicholas, 1872-1948.
  • Shoumatoff, Elizabeth.
  • Volpi, Elia, 1858-1938.

Subject(s)

  • Art dealers.
  • Art--Private collections.
  • Artists--Correspondence.

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Collection Inventory

Subseries I: Works Purchased
 

Subseries I: Works Purchased, 1921-1984, documents the acquisition of artwork by Helen Clay Frick for her personal collection through either purchase or commission. Files may contain lists of works purchased; correspondence with dealers, artists, restorers, or Miss Frick's own staff; invoices; photographs; and printed material. Though these files reflect her interest in collecting works by early Italian and French artists, not all works purchased by Miss Frick are documented here. Additional documentation may be found among the Helen Clay Frick Papers: Series X: Voucher Files (noted in the container list below, when known). Works commissioned are frequently portraits of her late father, along with depictions of three interiors at his New York residence by the artist Walter Gay. Other works commissioned by Helen Clay Frick, notably a painting by Grandma Moses of Westmoreland Farm, her estate in Bedford, N.Y., is not documented here.

Files are arranged alphabetically by the source of the acquisition, whether gallery, artist, or individual. Lists of paintings purchased, as well as correspondence regarding attempts to compile an index of Miss Frick’s paintings, are filed at the beginning of the series.
Box Folder Date
1 1

Lists of paintings purchased
 

Contains incomplete lists of Miss Frick’s collection, along with correspondence regarding attempts to compile an index of her collection in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

 1926-1983
1 2

American Art Association - Andrea di Bartolo, Virgin and Child
 

Purchased 1925.

 1925, 1927

Anisfeld, Boris [artist] - Unnamed picture of Helen Clay Frick's woods at Bedford, N.Y.
 

Commissioned 1922.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 81).

Arden Studios, Inc. - Platt, Unnamed mural depicting early history of Westmoreland County, Pa.
 

Commissioned 1928 from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Platt for the Overholt Homestead in West Overton, Pa.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 1254).
1 3

Bourgeois Galleries - [Giovanni, di Paolo, The Nativity]
 

Purchased 1925.

For additional documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 544).

 1925
1 4

Douglas, R. Langton - Sassetta, Virgin and Child with Angels
 

Purchased 1931. Folder also contains correspondence with R. Arcadius Lyon re conservation of the painting and three photographs.

 1931, 1938

Douglas, R. Langton - Ulysses
 

Purchased 1924.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 351).
1 5

Durlacher Bros. – Giotto, Triptych
 

Purchased 1922.

For additional documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 54).

 1922, 1927
1 6

Durlacher Bros. – French Primitive, Virgin and Child
 

Purchased 1927.

For additional documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 1015).

 1927
1 7

Durlacher Bros. – School of Avignon, Pieta, 15th Century
 

Purchased 1923.

See also file regarding research on this painting in Subseries VI: Research. For additional documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 176 or 141?)

 1923-1984
1 8

Durlacher Bros. – School of Lucca, Triptych
 

Purchased 1938. Includes opinion on the work by Richard Offner.

 1938

Duveen Brothers - Barna da Siena, Christ Bearing the Cross
 

Purchased 1927.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 1108).

 1927

Gay, Walter [artist] – Fragonard Room
 

Commissioned 1926. See letter from Gay to Helen Clay Frick dated 12 May 1928 (Box 1, Folder 9) for reference to charge for this painting.

 1926
1 9

Gay, Walter [artist] - [ Boucher Room and  Living Hall]
 

Commissioned 1928.

Folder contains voucher (#1239) with attached correspondence from the artist dated 12 May 1928.

 1928
1 10

Gnoli, Umberto – Two paintings representing heads of saints, attributed to Duccio di Buonisegna
 

Purchased 1928 from Daniel Stepanoff through Count Gnoli. Miss Frick refused delivery of the paintings when they arrived lacking an exportation permit.

 1928-1929
1 11

Hoffman, Malvina [artist] – Bust of Henry Clay Frick
 

Commissioned 1921? Also includes mention of bust of Helen Clay Frick and fountain for Eagle Rock.

Additional materials filed in Oversize E.

 1921-1926
1 12

Hutton, Edward – Sassetta, Annunciation
 

Purchased 1925.

 1925-1926
1 13

Hutton, Edward – School of Duccio, Angel
 

Purchased 1926.

 1926
1 14

Hutton, Edward – Francesco di Vannuccio, St. Catherine of Alexandria
 

Purchased 1927. Includes correspondence re financial assistance to Hutton in 1942

 1927, 1942
1 15

Johansen, John C. [artist] - Portrait of Henry Clay Frick
 

Commissioned 1930. File also mentions a portrait of Childs Frick in 1940, and copies of the Henry Clay Frick portrait commissioned in 1948 (one copy appears to have been given to the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh). Requested for loan by the Smithsonian Institute's National Portrait Gallery in 1967.

For documentation re additional commissions from Johansen, see the following from the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files:

No. 1796: For "portraits painted" in 1930

No. 2575: For small portraits of Henry Clay Frick and Adelaide H.C. Frick commissioned in 1932

No. 3680: For portrait of Dr. Burton J. Lee commissioned in 1935

No. 5506: For portrait of Childs Frick commissioned in 1940

No 6703: For portrait of Henry Clay Frick commissioned in 1943 and presented to The Frick Collection

No. 8513: For two portraits of Henry Clay Frick commissioned in 1948; one to be presented to the Duquesne Club.

 1930-1967
1 16

Kelly, Gerald [artist] - Portraits of Henry Clay Frick
 

Working from photographs, Kelly painted an undetermined number of portraits of Frick over the period of 1923-1925, including a posthumous portrait of Frick standing in the West Gallery at his New York residence.

 1923-1934
1 17-19

Lochoff, Nicolas - Copies of various frescoes
 

Includes documentation re Piero della Francesca's "Resurrection," Lorenzettii's "Madonna with Two Saints," Simone Martini's "Maestà" and "Dream of St. Martin," and Duccio's "Maestà."

For contract commissioning copy of Pietro Lorenzetti's "Madonna and Child with Saint Francis and Saint John" for the Frick Art Reference Library, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series IX: Subject Files (No. 33, Lochoff fresco).

For final payment voucher, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 1879).

 1928-1934
1 20

M. Knoedler & Co. - Daddi, Triptych
 

Purchased 1926.

For additional documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 816).

 1926-1927

M. Knoedler & Co. - [James Archer?], Portrait of Childs Frick as a Child
 

Copied by Adrian Lamb in 1954.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 789).

M. Knoedler & Co. - Winslow Homer, Leaping Salmon Trout [watercolor]
 

Purchased 1950 and presented to Judge and Mrs. Davis.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 8933).
2 1

Sherwood, R.E. [artist] - Portrait of Henry Clay Frick II
 

Commissioned in either 1921 or 1922. Correspondence in folder concerns location of the work in 1953.

 1953
2 2

Shoumatoff, Elizabeth [artist] - Portrait of Henry Clay Frick
 

Commissioned in 1949? Folder contents concern exhibition of the painting at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh and at the Overholt Homestead in West Overton, Pa.

 1949

Shoumatoff, Elizabeth [artist] - Unnamed double portrait
 

Commissioned 1956.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 1222).
2 3-8

Volpi, Elia - Dossena forgeries
 

With commission paid to F. Mason Perkins for his advice. These two marble sculptures, allegedly by Simone Martini, were later revealed to be forgeries by Alceo Dossena.

See also: Oversize D.

 1923-1929
3 1-7

Volpi, Elia - Dossena forgeries (continued)
 

 1929-1933, 1960-1961
3 8

Wildenstein & Co. - Corneille de Lyon, Gabrielle de Rochechouart
 

Purchased 16 April 1931.

For additional documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 2081).

 1931

Wildenstein & Co. - Jean-Julien Lemordant, La Danse
 

Purchased 1927 and presented to the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.

For documentation, see: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series X: Voucher Files (No. 937).

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Subseries II: Works Not Purchased
 

Subseries II: Works Not Purchased, 1922-1971 and undated, consists largely of chronological correspondence files containing letters offering works of art for purchase by either Helen Clay Frick or The Frick Collection, all of which were declined. The range of artists offered includes Sargent, Rembrandt, Whistler, Piero della Francesca, Vermeer, Houdon, Greuze, Guardi, and Giorgione, among many others. Dealers include Alice B. Creelman, R. Langton Douglas, Edward Hutton, and Basil Dighton. Three additional files document offers for a crucifix in the style of Duccio, a Donatello marble, and a double portrait by Edmund Tarbell of Helen Clay Frick with her father that was rejected by Henry Clay Frick when it was painted circa 1910.

Correspondence files are arranged chronologically, with folders regarding specific works filed at the end of the subseries.
Box Folder Date
3 9

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Sargent, Greuze, Verocchio, Raphael, and Rembrandt.

Dealers include: Kanetaka Ooi, Cyril Maude, Amédée Joseph Debon, Spencer Miller Jr., W.R. Townsend, Florence C. Perry, Alfred Werck, George Grey Barnard, William Kerr, Louise Frank Taylor, Isaac Gordon, Mary H. Sully, Juliette Arden, and Helen Albina Fitzgerald.

 1922-1924
3 10

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Whistler, Israels, Giorgione, and Taddeo di Bartoli.

Dealers include: Alice B. Creelman, Basil Dighton, and John van Vloten.

 1925-1926
3 11

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Bourdelle, Lamerie (silver), Berlinghieri, Henrietta Johnston, and Cezanne.

Dealers include: John van Vloten and Alice B. Creelman.

 1927-1928
4 1

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Van Dyck, Hubert-Robert, Cimabue, Coppo di Marcovaldo, Sully, Stuart, El Greco, Bonvicino Il Moretto, Blakelock, Murillo, Rubens, Giardano, Turner, and Tintoretto.

Dealers include: Marquis Ugo P. Spinola, Ugo Squatriti, Thomas J. Kerr, and Johan P. van Vloten.

 1929-1930
4 2

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Guardi, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna, Bellini, Tiziano, Hogarth, Ghirlandajo, Watteau, Guercino, and Giorgione.

Dealers include: R. Langton Douglas, P.G. Gurgo-Salice, Florence Khan, Alice Creelman, and The Ehrich Galleries.

 1930-1931
4 3

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Vermeer, Stuart, Botticelli, Van Veen, Romano, Rembrandt, Hals, Rubens, Whistler, Fra Filippo Lippi, Copley, Rembrandt Peale, Veneziano, Gaddi, di Paolo, and Ingres.

Dealers include: Edward Hutton, Thomas J. Kerr, Richard M. Hurd, Frances M. Nichols, and Frances Tarbox.

 1931-1933
4 4

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Romney, Colyns, Sassetta, Houdon, Titian, Sully, Michelangelo, Wiggens, Rodin, and Ziem.

Dealers include: Carl W. Hamilton, Mary Bughley Cecil, Jacques Furst, and Ernest Durig.

 1933-1935
4 5

Correspondence
 

Works include: newly discovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci and letter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Dealers include: Heinrich Tschuppik and Aona Dickinson Beall.

 1935
4 6

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Houdon, da Sesto, Bonifazio, Stuart, Romney, Gainsborough, Guardi, Veronese, Titian, Boucher, Raphael, Hubard, Vigée-Lebrun, and Greuze.

Dealers include: John Davenport (Prof. Sciortino collection), Adèle H. McKay, Inglis Griswold, Dalva Brothers, Mary Coles Carrington, and Duc de Premio Real.

 1936
4 7

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Janinet after Fragonard, Rembrandt, Crivelli, Giovanni da Bologna, Corot, Carpeaux, Picasso, Fragonard, Vermeer, and Healy.

Dealers include: Basil Dighton, E.F. Bonaventure (Gregor Aharaon), Clarissa Gordon-Ashley, Park Art Galleries, P.F. Nesi, Francesco Savorgnan di Brazzá, Paul M. Byk, Valentine Dudensing, Jeanne Lalanne, Giovanni Castano, Michaelsen Gallery, Evelyn Mary Bligh, and William H. Littlefield.

 1937-1938
4 8

Correspondence
 

Artists include: Bastiani, Dou, Hanneman, Riccio, Giordano, Drouais, Corinth, Cropsey, William E. Norton, and Rubens.

Dealers include: Gaspano Ricca, Fernando Perez y Sucre, Millicent V. Hooper, F.A. Dalzell, Ing. S. Bergmann, Terese Gould, Arnold, Seligmann, Rey & Co., Arthur Jacobi, Craig F.R. Drake, Gertrude M. Norton, Harry O. Eichleay, and George Grantham Bain.

 1939-1940
4 9

Correspondence
 

Artists include: de Neuville, Renoir, Lairesse, Rodin, Greatorex, El Greco, Jouett, Charles Wilson Peale, da Vinci, Velázquez, Fouquet, and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione.

Dealers include: Margaret D. Coe, Dalzell Hatfield, Alice Louise Geer, Marcel M. House, Aino Rissanen, Fernando Juárez Frías, C.G. Hoffman, Thomson Whitney Webb, Elizabeth Bell Burdick, Rena T. Magee, Francesco Savorgnan di Brazzá, Maude Craig, Stephan Bourgeois, and Arne L. Lehto.

 1943, 1968, undated
4 10

Crucifix in the style of Duccio
 

From the collection of Conte Bulgarini and offered for sale through Evelyn Sandberg Vavala. Includes correspondence with Gino Sarrocchi, Frederick Mortimer Clapp, George Rowly, and Nicolas Lochoff.

 1928-1932
4 11

Donatello marble
 

Offered for sale by Durlacher Bros.

 1925-1926
4 12

Tarbell, Edmund - Double portrait of Henry Clay Frick and Helen Clay Frick
 

Offered for sale by Mary Tarbell Schaffer.

 1934, 1971

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Subseries III: Clayton and Eagle Rock Collections
 

Subseries III: Clayton and Eagle Rock Collections, 1911-1991 and undated, documents the administration and dissemination of works inherited by Helen Clay Frick from her father's collections at the family's Pittsburgh residence (Clayton) and Massachusetts estate (Eagle Rock). These files chiefly consist of inventories and catalogs of paintings, sculpture, enamels, and porcelains, but also include correspondence regarding insurance, relocation of objects, general matters, and the sale of one painting: Seiners by Rockwell Kent.

Arranged alphabetically by topic.
Box Folder Date
4 13

Bronzes at Eagle Rock
 

 1940
4 14

Catalog of bronzes
 

 1940?
5 1

Catalog of enamels and sculpture
 

First portion of the catalog is devoted to pieces at One East 70th Street, with notes regarding locations in the house.

 circa 1930s-1950s?
5 2

Catalog of paintings at Prides
 

Includes images of most works.

 1921, 1930s?, 1950s
5 3

Catalog of paintings, "Copy 2"
 

Includes works at One East 70th Street and at Eagle Rock.

 circa 1930s
5 4-5

Chinese porcelains
 

 1911-1965, undated
5 6

Correspondence
 

Discusses works by Le Quesne, Rockwell Kent, and Thaulow, among others. Includes letter to Belle da Costa Greene re bronzes.

 1920-1985
5 7

Correspondence - Insurance
 

 1938-1942
5 8

Distribution of items
 

Lists of goods (from Eagle Rock) to be distributed among family members and other residences. Includes furnishings and household items.

 circa 1953?, 1956
5 9

Gifts to family and others
 

 1943-1991
5 10

Inventories and works moved
 

 1932-1955
5 11

Lists of works acquired by Henry Clay Frick (1881-1914)
 

 1968-1988, undated
5 12

Mezzotints
 

 1951-1965
6 1

Paintings at Clayton
 

 1952-1973, undated
6 2-3

Paintings at Eagle Rock
 

 1919-1956
6 4

Paintings at Eagle Rock
 

 circa 1950s?
6 5

Paintings at Eagle Rock (Bellows-Mauve)
 

 circa 1950s?
6 6

Paintings at Eagle Rock (Monet-Ziem)
 

 circa 1950s?
6 7

"Prides Paintings" (Bacon-Harnett)
 

 1930s?
6 8

"Prides Paintings" (Israels-end)
 

 1930s?
6 9

Rockwell Kent painting
 

 1920-1942
6 10

Tapestry representing a bull course
 

 1938-1939

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Subseries IV: Correspondence
 

Subseries IV: Correspondence, 1920-1978 and undated, contains letters to and/or from art historians, dealers, galleries, conservators, and others regarding matters connected either with Helen Clay Frick's collection, or with her interest in art history. Notable correspondents include Alice Creelman, Durlacher Bros., Duveen Bros., M. Knoedler & Co., Harold Woodbury Parsons, F. Mason Perkins, and Wildenstein & Co. Additional correspondence on art-related matters can be found in the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series XVI: Alphabetical File.

Arranged alphabetically, whether by correspondent (e.g. Bernard Berenson, Durlacher Bros., etc.), or by topic (e.g. insurance on paintings, furniture and rugs, porcelains and bronzes, etc.).
Box Folder Date
6 11

Abdy, Robert
 

Cable re Houdon's bust of Madame His.

 1947
6 12

Bachstitz, Inc.
 

 1932
6 13

Balay, Roland
 

 1930-1946
6 14

Beatty, M.C., Mrs.
 

 1920
6 15

Berenson, Bernard
 

 1921-1956
6 16

Bourgeois Galleries, Inc.
 

 1925, 1930
7 1-3

Carnegie Institute
 

 1924-1978
7 4

Creelman, Alice
 

 1924-1934
7 5

Danzi, B. Hiram
 

 1922-1923

Douglas, R. Langton
 

See: Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series XVI: Alphabetical File.
7 6

Durlacher Bros.
 

 1922-1948
7 7

Duveen Brothers
 

 1922-1948
7 8

Furniture and rugs
 

 1940-1951, undated
7 9

Guiffrey, Jean
 

 1920
7 10

Hutton, Edward
 

 1926-1948
7 11-13

Insurance on paintings
 

 1924-1938
8 1

Insurance on paintings, continued
 

 1938-1942
8 2

Jacques Seligmann, Inc.
 

Also contains correspondence with Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., Inc.

 1924-1969
8 3

Lyon, R. Arcadius
 

 1938-1941
8 4

M. Knoedler & Co.
 

Includes memorandum dated 5 July 1961 regarding the sale of a Mary Cassatt etching ("Banjo Player") purchased by Henry Clay Frick in 1895.

 1921-1971
8 5

Miscellaneous
 

Includes 1956 list of items for Clayton with reference to "Miss Frick's Bust" [by Malvina Hoffman?] Also contains 1973 letter from Sam Wagstaff to Harry [Grier?] regarding an Houdon drawing.

 1927-1973, undated
8 6

Parsons, Harold Woodbury
 

 1926-1963
8 7-8

Perkins, F. Mason
 

 1924-1928
8 9

Porcelains and bronzes
 

 1958, 1965
8 10

Robert C. Vose Galleries
 

 1929-1950
8 11

Rogers, Helen Russell
 

 1932, 1934
8 12

Stotler, Ilka
 

 1966
8 13

Wildenstein & Co.
 

 1925-1971

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Subseries V: Loans and Exhibitions
 

Subseries V: Loans and Exhibitions, 1926-1983, contains files regarding the loan of various works for both short and long-term exhibition. Objects loaned were predominantly paintings. In the case of the loan to Harvard University's Fogg Museum of Art, however, Helen Clay Frick also sent furniture, rugs, bronzes, and porcelains. Coinciding with an extensive renovation at Eagle Rock, these objects were on loan for a period of several years. Other large long-term loans were made to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This subseries also contains files for several loan requests refused by Helen Clay Frick.

Arranged alphabetically by institution, with loans refused filed at the end of the subseries.
Box Folder Date
8 14

Carnegie Institute
 

Exhibition of fourteen paintings from the collection of Helen C. Frick.

 1950
9 1

Cincinnati Art Museum
 

Regarding loan of Gainsborough's "Richard Brinsley Sheridan." Folder includes correspondence with Walter H. Siple and Marcella Rodgers.

 1931
9 2

Dallas Museum of Fine Arts
 

Loan of fifteen paintings from Eagle Rock in 1942:

Bellows: "Docks in Winter"

Devis: "Sir Joshua Vanneck and His Family"

Fuller: "Romany Girl"

Gainsborough: "Richard Brinsley Sheridan"

Goya: "Ascensio Julio"

Guardi: " A View on the Grand Canal, Venice"

Guardi: "Canal Scene, Venice"

Guardi: "View on the Grand Canal"

Hogarth: "Hon. John Hamilton"

Lawrence: "La Marquise du Blaizel"

Maris: "Two Windmills"

Romney: "Mrs. Thomas Raikes and Child"

Reynolds: "Sir George Howland Beaumont"

Reynolds: "Margaret, Lady Beaumont"

Ruysdael, "A Waterfall"

Includes correspondence with Richard Foster Howard, Alex F. Weisberg, Jerry Bywaters, Stanley Marcus, Nancy Carrell (Mrs. Brandon Carrell), and Ed Bearden.

 1941-1949
9 3

Fogg Art Museum
 

Loan of paintings, furniture, rugs, bronzes, and porcelains from the collection at Eagle Rock. Paintings include:

The following paintings at Fogg Art Museum 3 October 1932 to 23 September 1935:

Guardi: "Canal Scene, Venice" (Bacon Collection)

Goya: "Don Ascensio, El Pescadoret"

Hoppner: "Princess Sophia"

Devis: "Sir Joshua Vanneck and Family" ***At Springfield Museum, Springfield, Mass., October 1933 to 17 November 1933

Gainsborough: "Richard Brinsley Sheridan"

Hogarth: "John Hamilton"

Raeburn: "Alexander Allan"

3 paintings to Fogg, 16 April 1936 to ?

Cotes: "Sir Griffith Boynton, Bart" Cotes: "Lady Boynton: Ruysdael: "A Waterfall" (Bacon)

 1938-1940
9 4

The Frick Collection
 

Pictures chosen from Miss Frick's collection at Prides Crossing for exhibition at The Frick Collection [in 1935?]

 1935-1938, 1977
9 5

Miscellaneous loans
 

Includes loans to the Yale Center for British Art, Carnegie Mellon Museum, and New York University.

 1926-1983
9 6

Richard Feigen Gallery
 

Helen Clay Frick loaned two paintings to the exhibition "Bedford Collects": Giovanni di Paolo's "Nativity" and Konrad Witz's "Pieta." Includes correspondence with staff at The Frick Collection regarding environmental conditions at Feigen's gallery.

 1972
9 7

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
 

Concerns ten paintings loaned in 1938 and one painting in 1956. The 1938 loan consisted of the following:

Guardi: "Canal Scene, Venice" (from the Bacon Collection)

Goya: "Don Julio Ascensio, El Pescadoret"

Devis: "Sir Joshua Vanneck and Family"

Gainsborough: "Richard Brinsley Sheridan"

Hogarth: "John Hamilton"

Lawrence: "La Marquis de Blaizel"

Bellows: "Docks in Winter"

Rockwell Kent: "The Seiners"

Reynolds: "Sir George Beaumont"

Reynolds: "Lady Margaret Beaumont"

Fragonard's "The Pursuit" was loaned in 1956 as part of the exhibition called Les Fêtes Galantes.

Folder Includes correspondence with Maud Stokes Williams, Thomas C. Colt Jr., and Muriel B. Christison, clipping, and checklist from Les Fêtes Galantes

1937-1956
9 8

William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art
 

Loan of a Hogarth painting to an exhibition organized by Harold Woodbury Parsons.

 1937
9 9

Loans refused - Florentine Giottoesque Exhibition
 

Includes correspodence with Fulvio Suvich, Italian Ambassador, requesting the loan of a painting from the school of Bernardo Daddi and one from Maetro Padovano. Helen Clay Frick cited the condition of the paintings as the reason for refusing the request.

 1937
9 10

Loans refused - Portraits of the Signers of the Declaration
 

Includes response to Sol Bloom, Director General of the U.S. Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission. Helen Clay Frick cites political reasons for refusing to loan her Trumbull potrait of John Adams.

 1937

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Subseries VI: Research
 

Subseries VI: Research, 1900-1975 and undated, contains notebooks, notes, card files, photographs, academic papers, and printed material connected with the collections of Helen Clay Frick and her father, as well as other areas of research. Topics of particular interest to Helen Clay Frick were Italian artists, the French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon, and objects represented in her father's collection, especially paintings, Chinese porcelains, and sculpture. This series also includes notes on historic homes and collections, particularly the notes on Virginia from 1922, which were probably used in conjunction with first photo campaign of the Frick Art Reference Library. Similar notebooks can also be found in the Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series XI: Travel.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Box Folder Date
9 11

Architecture
 

Handwritten notes by Helen Clay Frick, with occasional illustrations.

 undated
9 12

Bibliographies
 

Includes bibliographies and course material from art history classes at New York University and the Institut de l'art et l'archaeologie, Paris. Instructors include Marcel Aubert, Walter W.S. Cook, and Elie Lambert.

 circa 1930s
9 13

British architects and craftsmen
 

Miniature binder with typewritten notes on British architects, craftsmen, and styles.

 undated
9 14

Carnegie Institute
 

Contains two copies of a typewritten checklist from the Portrait Exhibition under the auspices of the Art Society of Pittsburgh at Carnegie Institute Art Galleries, Pittsburgh, 19 February to 10 March 1900. Also contains extracts from a Catalogue of an Exhibition of Historical Portraits, Paintings, Prints, Drawings, and Relics, presented by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Commemorating City Charter Centennial, Carnegie Institute, 29 October to 30 November 1916.

 1900, 1916
9 15

Chinese porcelains
 

Notebook in Helen Clay Frick's hand describing the periods and types of Chinese porcelains. Enclosures include drawings and descriptions of three vases with accompanying 1958 letter from N.E. Thompson, and letter to Helen Clay Frick from Rose H. Lorenz dated 8 May 1911.

 1909, 1911, 1958
9 16

Collections in America
 

Contains miniature binder with typewritten notes on collections in various cities:

Boston and elsewhere in Massachusetts: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Fogg Art Museum, Worcester Art Museum, and collections of A. Kingsley Porter, Lindon Smith, Mary Wheelright, Mrs. Scott Fitz, Frank Channing Smith Jr., and Mrs. William Hill.

Baltimore: Walters Gallery

New Haven, Conn.: Jarves Collection

New York: Metropolitan Museum, New York Historical Society, and collections of Maitland Griggs, Percy Strauss, and Frank L. Babbott,

Philadelphia: Widener Collection

Providence: Rhode Island School of Design

 circa 1920s
10 1

Dealers
 

 circa 1920s
10 2

French art and artists
 

 1948, undated
10 3

French artists
 

 undated
10 4-6

History of sculpture
 

 undated

Houdon - Card files
 

Housed separately; see Box 19 at the end of this subseries.

 undated
10 7

Houdon - Copies of documents
 

Letters re Houdon subjects, but not related to Houdon.

 undated
10 8

Houdon - Correspondence and notes
 

 1947-1976, undated
10 9

Houdon - Notes
 

 undated
11 1

Italian art
 

 circa 1920s?
11 2

Italian artists (A-F)
 

 undated
11 3

Italian artists (G-M)
 

 undated
11 4

Italian artists (M-Z)
 

 undated
11 5-6

Italian paintings in the National Gallery, London
 

 circa 1920s?
11 7

Italy – “Florence” (A-C)
 

 circa 1920s
11 8

Italy - "Florence" (E-S)
 

 circa 1920s
11 9

Italy - "Florence" (S-end)
 

 circa 1920s, 1966
12 1

Italy - "Florence - North" (A-H)
 

 circa 1920s
12 2

Italy - "Florence - North" (I-P)
 

 circa 1920s
12 3

Italy - "Florence - North" (Q-Z)
 

 circa 1920s, 1944
12 4

Italy - Florentine art
 

 circa 1920s?
12 5

Italy - "Miscellaneous Italy, Vol. I" (A-O)
 

 circa 1920s
12 6

Italy - "Miscellaneous Italy, Vol. I" (P-R)
 

 circa 1920s
12 7

Italy - "Miscellaneous Italy, Vol. I" (S-end)
 

 circa 1920s, 1944
12 8

Italy - "Miscellaneous Italy, Vol. II" (A-R)
 

 circa 1920s
12 9

Italy - "Miscellaneous Italy, Vol. II" (R-end)
 

 circa 1920s
12 10

Italy - Notes from 1924 Italian trip, etc.
 

 1924, 1928
12 11

Italy - Notes on various churches?
 

 undated
13 1

Italy - "Province of Siena" (A-M)
 

 circa 1920s
13 2

Italy - "Province of Siena" (M-S)
 

 circa 1920s
13 3

Italy - "Province of Siena" (T-end)
 

 circa 1920s
13 4

Italy - "Siena" (A-B)
 

 circa 1920s
13 5

Italy - "Siena" (C-S)
 

 circa 1920s
13 6

Italy - "Siena" (V-end)
 

 circa 1920s, 1944
13 7

Italy - "Umbria and the Marches" (A-C)
 

 circa 1920s
13 8

Italy - "Umbria and the Marches" (F-P)
 

 circa 1920s
13 9

Italy - "Umbria and the Marches" (R-V)
 

 circa 1920s
13 10

Medici family and their lives
 

 undated
13 11

Museums
 

 undated
14 1

Notes - Miscellaneous
 

 1931, undated
14 2

Paintings in the collection of Mrs. Richard de Wolfe Brixey
 

 1969
14 3-6

"Paintings No. 1"
 

Descriptions of paintings from the collection of Henry Clay Frick; includes photographs of some works.

 1935
14 7

Period furniture
 

 undated
14 8

Photographs
 

 undated
14 9-10

Photomounts of works at the Frick Art Museum in Pittsburgh
 

 1970
15 1

Pieta - School of Avignon (15th Century)
 

See also file regarding acquisition of this painting in Subseries I: Works Purchased.

 1922-1967
15 2

Porcelains
 

 1909, 1911
15 3

Porcelains and pictures at 1 East 70th Street
 

Includes items at Prides Crossing, Mass., and a copy of the New York "Collection" list from 1920.

 1920, 1935
15 4-8

Printed material
 

Includes issues and offprints from Burlington Magazine,  American Magazine of Art,  Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts,  The Art Bulletin, etc.

Additional material housed in Oversize A.

 1930-1974, undated
16 1

Private collections
 

 undated
16 2

Renaissance sculpture
 

 undated
16 3-5

Sculptors
 

 circa 1930s
17 1

Sculptors, continued
 

 circa 1930s
17 2-4

Sculpture
 

 1934, 1946, undated
17 5

Sculpture, Vol. I
 

 undated
17 6-7

Sculpture, Vol. II
 

 undated
18 1

Thesis on Arcangelo di Cola da Camerino
 

M.A. thesis by Antonette M. Dennison, University of Maryland.

 1975
18 2

Virginia
 

Notes regarding historic houses in Virginia. Organized by city.

 circa 1922
18 3

Virginia collections
 

Notes regarding houses and collections in Virginia. Often includes historical details, along with impressions of the building and its contents.

 1922
19

Houdon - Card files
 

Contains two card files of portrait subjects: one organized by name, and the other by profession. A third card file appears to be a bibliography or index.

 undated

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Subseries VII: Volumes
 

Subseries VII: Volumes, 1901-1936 and undated, contains bound research compiled by Helen Clay Frick, as well as nine volumes of the Italian periodical Rassegna d'Arte (1901-1912 and 1928). Volumes compiled by Helen Clay Frick contain handwritten notes and illustrations on the history of architecture and painting. The bulk of these are devoted to the various schools of Italian painting.

Arranged by title.
Box Folder Date
20

History of Painting, Vol. I
 

 undated
21

History of Painting, Vol. II
 

 undated
22

History of Painting, Vol. III
 

 undated
23

History of Painting, Vol. IV
 

 undated
24

History of Architecture
 

 undated
25

Italian Art - Central Italian Painting, Vol. 1
 

 circa 1930s?
26

Italian Art - Central Italian Painting, Vol. 2
 

 1926, circa 1930s?
27

Italian Art - Central Italian Painting, Vol. 3
 

 1926, 1936
28

Italian Art - Florentine Painting, Vol. 1
 

 1926, 1927?
29

Italian Art - Florentine Painting, Vol. 2
 

Travel scrapbook documenting 23 December 1927 through 29 January 1928.

 1927
30

Italian Art - Sienese and March Schools
 

 circa 1920s?
31

Italian Art - Venetian Painting
 

 circa 1920s?
32

Rassegna d'Arte
 

Three volumes: 1901-1902, 1903-1904, and 1905-1906.

 1901-1906
33

Rassegna d'Arte
 

Three volumes: 1907-1908, 1909, and 1910.

 1907-1910
34

Rassegna d'Arte
 

Three volumes: 1911, 1912, and 1928.

 1911-1912, 1928

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